I’ve discovered that I’m not a big fan of a romantic connection being established prior to the start of a book. I don’t mind a preexisting attraction or a second chance, but I don’t like having an established connection plopped in my lap. I know I’m just supposed to go with it, but it’s hard. It can succeed if done well, but an author has to be careful to still provide supporting data to make me believe in the characters’ feelings instead of expecting me to swallow it just because it’s presented More...

Just for fun, let’s make a list of ten cliché used in this book, shall we?
(There are many more than ten, but I had to limit myself somehow.)


1. The tough female assassin who thinks of herself as unemotional and cold-blooded.
She’s so badass, she just has to say it over and over throughout the whole book.

2. The tough, beautiful female assassin.
Of course she is beautiful, how can it be any different? And how can’t it be monumentally important what she looks like?
She describes herself as utterly irre More...

Türkçe halini okuyun http://kitabisevda.blogspot.com/2012/...

I really loved this book .Characters, love scenes etc
Main character was really powerful and self-sufficent. I must accept she was sometimes acted stupid but she survived in a world she is not fittingly prepaired. She educates herself and i can love her just for that.
when i was reading book i didnt get bored, but sometimes it was predictable, i dont think author made this knowingly but it didnt lessened the story which she quickly catc More...

Darian is a Shaede, created not born, one of only three Sheades that have ever been made. She has been alone for nearly a century after her maker and lover Azriel, disappeared. Alone in the world believing that she is now the only Shaede remaining and convinced that Azriel is dead, Darian takes on the job that Azriel left behind. An assassin.

Shaedes are supernatural beings who can pass as shadow during the night but take solid form during the day, with heightened senses, strength and speed, abl More...

Review can be found at Madhouse Reads

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads


Shaedes of Gray almost felt like two separate stories that were merged into one to make a full length novel. Normally the cracks would show from attempting such a feat but in this case a neat reverse funnel effect was created. I admire Amanda Bonilla for taking on such a challenge and even more so for succeeding at it so beautifully. The end result is a uniquely crafted story that flows like water. Inhaling the pages of this novel became as important to me as breathing ai More...

Originally posted at A Bookalicious Story.

My Summary

Darian is a Shaede made by another - a past lover, in fact, one that abandoned her almost a century ago. She's the last of her kind, or so she was led to believe, and with only stealth in her arsenal, she trains herself to be one of the best assassins in the field. She can become incorporeal after twilight, and move in the shadows as nothing more than a ghost.

Tyler has been a long-standing friend (a friend who makes her body feel all warm and More...

Amanda Bonilla es una nueva autora de fantasía urbana que con su primera novela me ha encandilado.
Y eso que la trama es exactamente igual a los cientos de libros del género: protagonista que hasta el momento era anónima y que de repente, por motivos diferentes, es la reina de la fiesta. Todo el mundo quiere conocerla, ligarsela, matarla o lo que toque. La diferencia en esta ocasión es que en vez de ser vampiros, hombres lobo, etc... Darian tiene la facultad de fundirse con las sombras, lo que la More...

Originally posted at Heroes and Heartbreakers

In the first installment of what promises to be an exciting addition to the Urban Fantasy landscape, Amanda Bonilla has skillfully created a new version of Seattle where the heroine Darian is a shaede assassin.

Bonilla offers a unique take on lesser-seen Urban Fantasy mythological beings such as jinn, oracles, and sylphs. The heroine herself is able to become shadow and leave her corporeal form behind once the sun sets. Seattle could not be more perfec More...

My english review

Mon avis en français


What can I say about this book? "Waouh" is the only word that comes to my mind now that I’ve finished it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read since a few months. The Amanda Bonilla’s ideas are awesome; there are no other words to say it. I think it’s always difficult to make a difference with Urban Fantasy’s books because there are a lot today. But the author succeeded in this challenge, and even more. She created an explosive, dynamic mix which leads u More...

SHAEDES OF GRAY has such an amazing cover and intriguing synopsis, so I was very surprised that this book just didn't do it for me. I became so frusterated by the characters in SHADES OF GRAY that I just went into one of my angry fangirl moments.

SHADES OF GRAY does however start out incrediably amazing that I was at the point of being sold on the book, but once I got through a few more chapters and a few more after that I wanted to flush this book down the toliet. I thought SHAEDES OF GRAY becam More...

so i just wrote this awesome review but then the computer screw'd up and didnt save it o.O highly annoying but not much i can do about it.

well anyways Joan picked out this book for us to read and i have to say she did an awesome job once again! thanks Joan!

this book was like a few others i have read but the author did a great job writing it so i didnt mind.
Dairan - the main character - who's a lot like the main heroines out of the October Days series and the Greywalker series was pretty entertai More...

3.5 stars, but I think on the lower side of three, vs more four. Make sense? In my odd brain it does.

3 stars means I liked it, but it has issues.

This review is going to be difficult for me, because on the one hand, I fell in love with Shaedes of Gray's promise. And you know what they say about falling in love with the potential of a man or woman right? Well, it's true for books too.

Let's start with what I loved:

1) The matrix like feel of the Shaeding aspect, and the 'effects' of how they pop i More...

My impressions or rather...a list of sins with the appropriate quotes to illustrate my problems better :

1.
"I wore my signature black—tight pants, low on my waist; long-sleeved black nylon turtleneck that clung to every curve of my body; black boots (of course); and, to top it off, a long black duster. I admit, the coat was a little over the top, but I love dramatics."

Dear Darian- are you an assassin or a fashionista ? Who cares what you wear to work? A tip – not me. Wardrobe descriptions are so More...

At first I was slightly skeptical to read an Urban Fantasy, being a huge fan of completely made up worlds, but Amanda Bonilla really took to blending her fantasy world into the world we know. I also appreciate, being from Seattle, the author was correct in her map of the city. Though I'm sure you are not worried about that! Moving on...

The writing style of the book really drew me into its pages. I honestly bought the book and couldn't put it down, till very late at night mind you, but I hadn't e More...

I won this book from the Goodreads First Reads program

This author has quite an imagination! However, the storyline wasn't really enough to get me hooked. Actually, I take that back - the storyline was really creative and very interesting, but I didn't connect to the characters well enough to really care what happened to them. However, the ending more than made up for that, and the author certainly finished strong. I will definitely be reading the second book, and I recommend this book to anyone More...

Lots of action and a unique mythology make for a very enjoyable read.

Darian is a Shaede, an immortal being who can fade into shadow and has increased strength and healing ability. These powers make her an excellent assassin. Since her maker vanished leaving her to believe that there were no others like her, she has been alone. She is attracted to her current business contact, Tyler, but doesn't want to risk their friendship, and more importantly let down any emotional walls.

Then she gets a job More...

I had a little trouble connecting with the main character, Darian, at first. I think that is partly intentional since she has been a loner for so long. Once I started to warm up to her, I really got into the story. Amanda Bonilla does an excellent job with worldbuilding. There are so many different aspects in this one, but she does a good job of making it all flow together. The ending was very exciting, and I'm looking forward to the next one, , to see what happens to Darian next. More...

What I enjoyed most about this is that this does not blend with the countless other paranormal books out there that feature vampires, werewolves, demons or the like. It was a nice change from finding something only to realize that I have, indeed, read it before, only better by another author. But I have to say I really enjoyed this interesting new concept of paranormal creatures.

There was very little I found that annoyed me. Which is great. I thought the story seemed very well done, and I enjoye More...

Darian is an assassin, and a good one thanks to her special abilities. Her targets are only bad guys, mobsters, murderers, child molesters. And she gets paid top dollar for killing them. And of course, her “employers” will someday be her targets as well. If they pay her to kill of the competition, someone else will pay to see them removed.
Darian is a Shaede, she can melt into the shadows, and just disappear, but not during daytime. Her handler is Tyler, whom she thinks is just a human. Tyler is More...

As I was trundling my way through Shaedes of Grey, I kept thinking to myself that while this was not the most engaging novel I’d picked up recently, it was certainly tolerable. Kind of a useless, bitchy, look-at-me-look-at-me narrator (The kind of woman I’d hate to meet in real life, you know? Or worse yet, to have as a co-worker. Shudder.) but you know, the plot was fun, and there were a couple of cute guys, and Seattle, right? And I was okay with everything.

Then disaster struck, in the form of More...

This is my first Bonilla novel to read, and it will definitely not be my last! I am going to share the synopsis from the back cover of the book because I have a habit of including spoilers in my summaries. I'm working on it!

Darian has lived alone for almost a century it the shadows of the night. Made and abandoned by her former love, Darian is the last of her kind - an immortal Shaede who can slip into darkness as easily as breathing. With no one else to rely on, she has taught herself how to s More...

In her debut novel Amanda Bonilla introduces the reader to a new world where the light and dark may not be what you expect.

Darian was made, loved and then left by her creator Azriel. Darian needed to learn how to survive on her own and with her unique skills of a shaede becoming an assassin was the perfect fit. As far as Darian has known she is the last of her kind or of any paranormal creature as she has never met another. But then a hit goes wrong, Darian is plunged into a world she knows noth More...

I basically picked this up because I liked the title and the cover and wanted another good series to start. Signet Eclipse labels it as an "urban fantasy romance" although I would categorize it more as paranormal urban fantasy than as a romance. The romance will be ongoing (one assumes) in coming books just as Patricia Briggs has developed Mercy and Adam's story throughout the Mercy Thompson series. Any one who enjoys that series will rejoice to see something along vaguely similar lines. There a More...

A decent beginning to a new series, though I'm rather wary as to where these books may go. Mainly because the protagonist, Darian, is a not so easily liked character who is prickly and rather likes to wallow in her misery. In fact, the beginning of the book was a bit of a struggle because she is rather hard to deal with. Darian is stubborn, arrogant, narcissistic, and basically tells herself that she can't feel any positive emotions because she's been burned in the past. Granted, she's been burn More...

Hold onto your hats and glasses, folks. This one’s going to get ugly.

The first-person narrator, Darian, is an assassin. An assassin who only kills evil people. Not that she does the legwork to check whether or not her victims are evil –she explains in one memorable scene, “Thinking wasn’t part of my job,” – so she just trusts her boss, Tyler, to be extra careful about picking evil victims.

She’s also fabulously wealthy because she only takes high dollar jobs, which she mostly executes on the se More...

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/12/...

Shaedes of Gray was such a pleasant surprise! Everything about this book looked great, but you never know what to expect when trying out a new author. Turns out I had nothing to fear. Darian is a Shaede, able to shift into shadow and has spent her life working as an assassin, until her maker, Azriel, leaves her with no hint at whether he is dead or alive. She has continued her work as an assassin (it’s all she knows), and More...

Shaedes of Gray by Amanda Bonilla
Urban Fantasy–Dec. 6th, 2011
4 stars

In this startling new urban fantasy, an entirely new type pf heroine finds herself caught in a deadly war.

Darian is a Shaede who was created by another powerful Shaede. Alone and untrained, once her creator loved then abandoned her. She believes her creator is dead and that she is alone. She drifts, working as an assassin for a mysterious man named Tyler whom she finds attractive but knows that she can have no relationship with. More...

If there’s one character type I love seeing, it’s assassins. Especially female assassins. I could probably stand to see less redheaded assassins though. Seriously, what is it with fantasy and redheaded assassins and/or redheaded women? Still, the promise of a female assassin was enough to lure me into picking up this book.

Darian was made into a Shaede.(Shaedes are supernatural beings that can turn into shadow at night. Very effective ability for an assassin. People are usually born Shaedes but More...

Shaedes of Gray was a book that captured my attention when it was first released. I had picked it up right away but ended up putting off reading it after reading some mixed reviews. I have to admit that it took me a while to warm up to the heroine, but since she did such a great job at pushing everyone away and isolating herself that was understandable. When Darian finally started opening herself up to others, then I finally started warming up to her. Darian's connection to Tyler is what finally More...